P&G’s Dawn helps wildlife affected by oil spill

Last week I read Jack Neff’s article in Advertising Age on Dawn’s wildlife rescue efforts in the Gulf Coast oil spill – below is an excerpt:

Dawn’s Wildlife Rescue Efforts Shine in Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Dish Soap’s Long-Running Cause-Related Ad Campaign Timely in Light of Environmental Disaster

By Jack Neff

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — It’s not the kind of luck Procter & Gamble Co. was looking for, but its Dawn dish soap is one of the few brand beneficiaries of the massive Gulf Coast oil spill.

Dawn launched a new ad for its wildlife rescue efforts on Earth Day and was still in the midst of a related promotional fundraiser just as the environmental catastrophe was unfolding. Earlier this week, it helped drive the point home further, shipping 1,000 bottles of Dawn to animal rescuers in the Gulf Coast, and plans to follow with another 1,000 by week’s end, said spokeswoman Susan Baba.

Lest P&G be accused of opportunism, the ads and donations are extensions of one of the company’s oldest cause-related marketing programs, now in its fourth decade, which got its original impetus from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Because of Dawn’s longstanding relationship with leading wildlife rescue organizations, the International Bird Rescue and Research Center and the Marine Mammal Center, it has access to the animal rescue efforts near the disaster site that few news organizations have, so it began sending news flashes about the first bird rescues today via its Facebook fan page with more than 140,000 fans, and Twitter account, a newer effort with under 200 followers. Publicis Groupe’s MS&L Groupe has handled PR for the Dawn, including the brand’s Facebook page and Twitter account.

You can read the full article here.

This is no doubt a very delicate situation for P&G – what my colleague Rosemary referred to as “the balance between missionary and mercenary.” 

The company has a reputation for donating soap to help with cleanups following oil spills. In fact, I remember watching animals being washed with dish detergent when I was eight-years-old and the Exxon Valdez oil spill was making headlines. But there are certainly critics that think the brand is being opportunistic. Public relations is about communicating and building relationships – in good times and in bad. P&G is communicating about the benefit of Dawn dish detergent in a very tangible and consequential way with its support in the Gulf.

I think it would be more detrimental if a company with a product proven to aid in the rescue of animals played it low-key. P&G is a Fortune 500 company – it’s in business to make money. But if it can help spread brand awareness, drive sales and help save precious wildlife at once – I think there is a PR hat trick at play.